Srinagar, October 29, 2025 : Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti launched a scathing attack on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday, accusing him of “betraying the poor” by opposing the land rights bill introduced by PDP MLA Waheed Para in the Assembly.
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Tuesday rejected Para’s bill seeking to grant proprietary rights to people living in houses built on government and community lands. Omar Abdullah had opposed the bill, warning it would “open floodgates for land grab”.
Reacting sharply, Mehbooba Mufti said the bill was not about legalising recent encroachments but about safeguarding poor families who had been residing on small plots of state or grazing land for decades.
“Omar did not betray the PDP, he betrayed the poor — the people whose roofs he now wants to snatch away,” Mufti said.
She clarified that the proposal aimed to regularise homes of those who have lived on such lands for 20–30 years, not recent occupants. “We were talking about the poor who built small houses on four-five marlas of land long ago. By rejecting this bill, Omar Abdullah has rejected their right to shelter,” she said.
Taking a swipe at political opponents, Mufti added, “The BJP calls it land ‘jehad’, Omar calls them land grabbers — so who are they calling thieves? These are poor people of Jammu and Kashmir who have faced bulldozers since 2019.”
On the PDP’s support to the National Conference in recent Rajya Sabha elections, Mufti revealed that her party’s votes were cast in the hope of securing backing for the land rights bill. “We told them — take our votes but save the shelters of the poor. Unfortunately, Omar chose otherwise,” she remarked.
She also highlighted that her party had brought another bill for the regularisation of daily wagers, saying, “They are the backbone of our departments — PHE, Power, Irrigation, Health, Education — yet they remain the most neglected.”
Criticising Omar Abdullah’s frequent references to the absence of statehood as a limitation, Mehbooba said, “Statehood cannot be an excuse for inaction. He could have done something on this bill if there was will. The people of Jammu and Kashmir needed protection, not excuses.”
